Q: We purchased a house
recently and have just discovered that we have a termite problem. How
common is this? I had never heard much about it before, but when I
mention our experience, I’m amazed at the number of people who say
they’ve had the same problem.
A: I’m not sure
where termites rate as a topic of conversation at cocktail parties and
cookouts, but on the list of homeowners’ headaches, it ranks very high
indeed. According to Bill Sutton, president of Bay Colony Home
Inspections, between 20 percent and 25 percent of the homes sold in
most areas of New England (Northeastern Maine is an exception) have
termites or have or have had them in the past. That’s about one in
every four or five homes, so the problem is hardly unknown, which is
why buyers should include a pest inspection, in addition to a
structural inspection, among the “contingencies” in the purchase and
sale agreement. (The contingency clauses are the provisions that allow
the buyer to withdraw from the deal or renegotiate the terms if
specified conditions aren’t met.)
Bear in mind, a structural inspection will identify damage caused by
termites, but it won’t detect current termite activity that needs to
be treated. Some lenders insist on a pest inspection as a condition
for approving a home mortgage; your experience illustrates why,
whether it’s required or not, a pest inspection is a good idea.
This may be a little late to help you, but other buyers should be
aware that termites are not the only insects capable of, in effect,
eating the structural components of your house – carpenter ants and
powder post beetles, among others, also can do considerable damage. So
if you are hiring a pest inspection company, you want to be sure it
will target not just termites but all “wood-destroying organisms,”
Sutton advises. Some of the home-buying guides suggest that you don’t
need a pest inspection for newly constructed home because termites
haven’t had time to nest, and that’s accurate. But new homes could
have carpenter ants, Sutton points out, so even on a new home,
skipping the pest inspection isn’t a good idea.
Sometimes termite damage is easy to spot, but not always. Sutton says
he once examined a ranch house with a finished basement, finding no
hint (sagging floors, uneven doors, etc.) of structural damage in his
upstairs inspection. Downstairs, he found treatment holes in the slab,
consistent with the owner’s report that the house had been treated
previously for termites. But he also found termite holes that “you
literally could put your hands through. Termites had eaten 80 percent
of all the structural components.”
Termite problems are particularly difficult to spot in a finished
basement, Sutton says, but the risks are even higher in houses with a
slab foundation, because termites can enter the structure through the
smallest shrinkage cracks in the concrete. Sutton says about 80
percent of the slab homes he’s inspected have shown signs of termite
damage and in 70 percent of those, the termites have been treated and
returned.
Unfortunately, the homes in which the termite risks are greatest also
are the homes in which the problem is most difficult to spot. Absent
evidence of termite damage, Sutton says, the only way to determine
with certainty whether a slab home, or a home with a finished basement
has termite activity, is to open up the area around the perimeter of
the house – an expensive undertaking that most sellers won’t
particularly welcome as part of the pre-sale negotiations.
Some pest inspection companies use specially trained Beagle dogs to
sniff out termites in these hard-to-inspect dwellings. You can’t
expect any Beagle to do that work, however; if you find a company
offering this service (and there don’t appear to be any in
Massachusetts), insist on seeing a certificate documenting that the
dog actually has undergone the required training.
Where there is some basis for suspecting termite activity, Sutton
says, buyers should insist on a more expansive (and more intrusive)
examination; if the seller balks, buyers should seriously consider
walking away from the deal. If you purchase anyway, be aware that
you’re accepting the risk that you will be dealing with a termite
problem, and possibly with extensive termite damage, at some point in
the future.
The good news about termites is they usually can be eliminated fairly
easily and without a huge expense. The bad news is, the damage
termites cause can be catastrophic—think in terms of thousands, many
thousands, not hundreds of dollars. If you find termites in a house,
obviously, you’ll want the owner to deal with the problem, but even
more importantly, you will want the seller either to pay for the
structural repairs or to adjust the price to reflect the expense you
are going to incur if you purchase the property.
Even if the damage is relatively minor
and poses no structural concerns, you probably will want to repair it,
simply because evidence of a termite problem (even if the problem has
been corrected) may discourage prospective buyers should you decide to
sell in the future.
